Crimping tool having wire severing means



Feb. 4, 1969 w. R, OVER CRIMPING TooL HAVING WIRE SEVERING MEANS SheetW. R. OVER CRIMPING TooL HAvING'wIRE SEVERING MEANS F eb. 4, 1969 SheetL of 5 Filed Aug. 17, 1966 Feb. 4, 1969 w. R. OVER 3,425,355

CRIMPING TOOL HAVING WIRE SEVERING MEANS Filed Aug. 17, 1965v I sheet 3Of 5 Feb. 4, 1969 w. R. ovl-:R 3,426,355

CRIMPING TOOL HAVING WIRE SEVERING MEANS Filed Aug. 17, 1966 Sheet 4of'5 Filed Aug., 17, 1966 Sheet 5 of f Feb. 4, 1969 w. R. OVER 3,426,355

CRIMPING TOOL HAVING WIRE SEVERING MEANS United States Patent O 8 ClaimsThis invention relates to an apparatus for trimming the ends of wiresand crimping an electrical connecting device onto the trimmed ends.

The co-pending application of Richard Ellwood Reem et al., Ser. No.539,230, led Jan. 7, 1966, now U.S. Patent No. 3,328,872, discloses andclaims connector crimping devices of a type adapted to crimp a connectoronto the ends of `wires extending axially towards each other to form asplice connection between the wires. A distinguishing feature of thisReem et al. tool is that the ends of the wires are trimmed prior tocrimping so that the slack can be drawn out of the wires when the spliceconnection is made. A further distinguishing feature and advantage ofthis Reem et al. tool is that the manipulative operation of positioningthe wires in the tool is greatly simplied as compared with prior artmethods and devices so that a high production rate can be achieved by atechnician using the tool.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for accomplishing many ofthe same objectives as the Reem et al. tool and performing similar, andadditional, operations. The present invention is particularly directedto an apparatus which permits the use of relatively short connectingdevices to make such splices and to an apparatus having improved meansfor locating the wires in the connector and holding them in positionwhile the connector is being crimped onto the wires.

It -is accordingly an object of the invention to provide an improvedtool for crimping an electrical connector onto the ends of wires. Afurther object is to provide a tool for trimming the ends of wires andmaking a splice connection between the wires. A further object is toprovide a tool having Iimproved means for locating the wires and holdingthem in position while the splice connection is being made. A furtherobject is to provide a tool adapted to crimp relatively short spliceconnectors onto the ends of wires. A still further object is to providea relatively fool-proof and easily operated device which can be used byrelatively inexperienced personnel with very little prior training.

These and other objects of the invention are achieved in a preferredembodiment of the tool adapted to trim the ends of wires extendingaxially towards each other and crimp an open U-type connecting deviceonto the overlapped ends of the trimmed wires. One preferred form of theinvention comprises a pair of crimping members, such as a conventionalcrimping die and crimping anvil, ywhich are normally disposed inparallel spacedapart relationship and which are movable relativelytowards and away from each other along a predetermined path. One ofthese members, the crimping die, is adapted to bend the sidewalls of anopen U-type connector inwardly towards each other and crimp theconnector onto the ends of the wires. The other member, the anvil, isadapted to support the connector during the crimping operation. The endsof the crimping members dene wire shearing planes in which a pair ofwire shearing members are mounted. These shearing members are normallydisposed beside the path of relative movement of the crimping membersand between the crimping members when they are in their open positions.The shearing members are movable, independently of the crimping members,towards and past one of the crimping members and cooperate vwith the onecrimping member to perform a wire shearing operation. A wire locatingmeans is provided in the form of a pair of plate-like members mountedagainst the shearing members, each plate-like member having rst andsecond wire holders -for holding the wires during the crimpingoperation. The irst wire holders in these plate-like members are locatedon the sides of the shearing members which are adjacent to the crimpinganvil and the second wire holders are located on the side adjacent tothe crimping die which cooperates with the shearing members to cut thewires. In use, each wire is positioned -with its axis extending througha lirst and then a second -wire holder in the two plate-like members sothat the wires will be positioned with their axes extending between arst shearing member and the crimping anvil thence between the crimpingdie and the crimping anvil thence between a second shearing member andthe crimping die and through a second wire holder with the end portionof the wire extending externally of this second wire holder. Uponmovement of the shearing members towards the die, these end portions ofthe wires will be severed in the severing planes and upon subsequentmovement of the die relatively towards the anvil, an electricalconnector supported on the die will be crimped onto the trimmed ends ofthe wires. The wires in the crimped connection will be in overlappingparallel relationship so that a minimum length in the finishedconnection is achieved.

In the drawings:v

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of an uncrimped connector intended foruse in the disclosed embodiment of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view of a crimped connection;

FIGURE 3 is a side view with parts broken away of one form of hand toolin accordance with the invention;

FIGURE 4 is a front view of the upper portion of the tool of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the anvil, thecrimping die, and the wire positioning and cutting means of the tool ofFIGURE 3 FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary perspective View showing the anvil,the anvil block, and the cutters;

FIGURES 7, 8, and 9 are fragmentary front views showing the wirepositioning means, the wire cutters, and portions of the crimping dieand anvil and illustrating the operation of the tool;

FIGURE 10 is a plan view of the two wire positioning plates, theseplates being disposed in back-to-back relationship for the purpose ofillustrating the depth of the wire locating slots.

FIGURE 11 is a fragmentary perspective view of an alternative embodimentof the invention;

FIGURE 12 is a view similar to FIGURE 11 but showing the manner in whichthe wires can be positioned to produce a butt splice;

FIGURE 13 is a perspective view of a butt splice;

FIGURE 14 is a view similar to FIGURE 11 but showing the manner in whichthe wires can be positioned to produce a tap connection; and

FIGURE 15 is a perspective view of a tap connection.

Referring iirst to FIGURES 1 and 2, one type of connector 2, which isadapted to be crimped by a tool in accordance with the invention, has aweb porti-on 4 from which sidewalls 6 extend. A pair of spaced-aparttongues 8 are struck up from the web adjacent to the ends of theconnector and have side-by-side notches 10, the notches of eac-h ton-guebeing axially aligned with the notches of the other tongue.Advantageously, plastic insulating film 12 of a material such as Mylar(polyethylene terephthalate) is bonded to the external surface of theconnector and extends beyond the edges of the sidewalls and the ends ofthe connector so that the completed crimped connection, FIGURE 2, willbe entirely encased in the insulating film. In the finished crimpedconnection, the wres 14, 16 overlap with each wire being disposed in aset of the notches in the tongues. As explained in the above-identifiedReem et al. application the notches are preferably of a width such thatthey will penetrate the insulation of the wire and establish electricalcontact with the conducting core thereof thus avoiding the necessity ofstripping this insulation in a separate operation.

yOne form of apparatus in accordance with the invention (FIGURES 3-6),comprises a tool 18 having a frame 20 with a flanged head 22 at one endthereof against which the crimping dies are mounted as will be describedbelow. A fixed handle 24 is secured to the opposite or lower end of theframe and has a generally channel-shaped cross section with sides 26 anda web 28. The sides 26 extend along opposite sides of the frame and aresecured thereto by suitable fasteners 30. A movable handle 32 has an endportion 34 which is received between a pair of spaced apart ears 36 onan anvil block 38 (FIGURE 6) which is pivoted to the anvil block bymeans of a suitable pin 40 which extends through the end of the handleand through the ears. The ends of this pin extend beyond the ears andhave rollers 42 mounted thereon to permit movement of the handle and theanvil upwardly and towards the head portion 22 of the tool. A separatecover plate 46 is mounted over the side of the frame into which thehandle extends and is secured to the frame by suitable fasteners.

A link means 50 is pivoted at 52 to the opposite sides of the movablehandle 32 and is also pivoted at 54 to the lower end of the frame, asuitable channel or slot 56 bein-g provided in the frame 20 forreception of the ends of the link means. A full stroke compellingmechanism comprising a ratchet bar 58 and a pawl mechanism contained ina housing 60 is provided between the handles 26, 32 to ensure that theoperator will fully close the handles when he makes a crimpedconnection. Devices of this type afre commonly provided on crimpingtools and are described in detail in U.S. Patent No. 2,618,993.

The anvil block 38 has a transversely extending anvil 68 on its upperside which is adapted to support the connector 2 during the crimpingoperation. It will be apparent that upon closure of the handles, thatis, upon relative movement of the handle 32 towards the fixed handle 26,this anvil block and the anvil 68 will be moved relatively upwardlytowards the crimping die which is described below.

The crimping die 76 is composite structure comprising threesubstantially similar sections 78, 80, 82 secured together by means ofsuitable rivets 84. A fastener 86 extends through the head portion 22 ofthe frame and into the center die section to hold the die in position.

Each section of the die Ihas a cavity 88 having generally sharplyconvergent sidewall portions S9 which merge with sidewall portions 90.These sidewall portions, in turn, are reversely curved to form a cusp92. The external edges of the die sections are bevelled as shown at 94to assist in smoothly curling the sidewalls of the connector Iwithoutcutting or otherwise damaging the insulating film on the connector. Theanvil is somewhat longer than the die and extends beyond the die at eachend.

It will be apparent that the die and anvil constitute a pair of crimpingmembers which are effective upon relative movement towards each other tobend the sidewalls of the connector into crimped engagement with theconductors. The str-ucture for locating the wires in the connector andtrimming the ends of the wires immediately prior to the crimpingoperation will now be described.

The cutting or shearing members 98 are mounted in shearing planesdefined by the ends of the die. Each cutter 98 has a lower portion 102which is provided with an elongated notch 104. The lower portions 102 ofthe cutters are disposed adjacent to Sides o f the anvil blOCk and a pin106 extends through this block and has its ends disposed in the notches104 to provide a lost motion connection between the cutters and theanvil block. Thus, when the anvil block moves upwardly, as viewed in thedrawing, this pin will move against the upper sides 110 of the notchesafter limited movement and move the cutters upwardly. Upon relativedownward movement of the anvil block, this pin will move against thesides 108 of the notches and pull the cutters downwardly. Adjacent totheir upper ends, the cutters 98 have forwardly extending arms 112, theupper sides 114 of which function as shearing members in cooperationwith the sides of the crimping die as will be described below. The lowersides of these arms 112 have semi-circular surfaces 116 and a cusp 118which conforms to the radius of the dies themselves. As will also beexplained below, these lower sides cooperate with and, in effect, becomepart of, the crimping die during the final stages of the operatingcycle. The outer ends of the cutters are of reduced thickness as shownat and are received |within slots formed by a guide plate 122. Thisguide plate is secured t-o the frame and extends over the front portionof the die and has inwardly directed flanges 124. These flanges arespaced from the sides of the die to provide channels or guideways forthe ends 120 of the cutters.

When the cutters move upwardly, as viewed in the drawing, past the sidesof the crimping die, their upper surfaces 114 will shear any wiresextending between these upper sides of the arms and the crimping die.There will now be described a locating means which insures that thewires will always be properly located in the tool to bring aboutsevering of the ends of the wires and positioning `of the wires inside-by-side parallel relationship.

The wire locating means of the embodiment of FIG- URE 3 comprises a pairof wire guide members 126, 128 in the form of plates secured to andagainst the external sides of the cutters 98. While these plates may beof any suitable material, it has been found advantageous to make them ofa relatively tough and durable plastic such as a relatively firm,non-porous polyurethane for reasons which will be apparent from thedescription below. Each wire guide plate 126, 128 is provided with afirst slot 130, 130' and a second slot 132, 132. The slots 130, 130 aredisposed below the arms 112 of the wire cutters or shearing members. Theslots 132, 132 are disposed above the arms 112 and between these armsand the crimping die. The slots 130 and 132 are relatively shallow, thatis, they extend inwardly from the front edge of the guide plates 126,128 only a relatively short distance. The slots 130', 132 on the otherhand, are relatively deeper than the slots 130, 132. It will also Ibenoted that the slots 132, 132' are cylindrical at their inner ends asshown at 134 and these slots extend generally obliquely and downwardlytowards the center line of the tool. The slots 130, 130', on the otherhand, are straight and extend normally of the center line of the tool.

The width of the slots is advantageously somewhat less than the diameterof the wires 14, 16 so that the wires, after being forced in the slots,will be resiliently gripped and held in position. A relatively firmpolyurethane material, as described above, is advantageous in that thisgripping effect will be achieved.

In use, and when the anvil is in its down or separated position withrespect to the die, the wires are located in a manner such that the wire16 extending from the right, as viewed in the drawing, is positioned rstin the slot 130 of plate 128 and then in the slot 132 of plate 126,these slots constituting the relatively deeper slots described above.The wire 14 extending from the left is positioned in the slot 130 ofguide member 126 and in the slot 132 of the guide member 128. When thewires are thus positioned, the wire 16 in the slots 130', 132 will bebehind the other wire and the two wires will extend in parallelspaced-apart planes, The end portions of the wires will extend betweenthe upper surface or cutting sides 114 of the arms 112 while theentering portions of the wires will extend beneath these cutter arms andwill not be severed.

After thus positioning the wires, the operator merely positions aterminal on the anvil and squeezes the handles until the crimping anvilmoves through the limit of its travel towards the die. During initialmovement of the crimping anvil, the terminal will be raised and the pin106 will move against the sides 110, the shearing members will be movedupwardly until the sides 114 move past the sides of the crimping diethereby to cut the projecting end portions of the wires (FIGURE 8).

After this trimming operation, the cut ends of the wires will Ibepositioned in side-by-side relationship in the connector and thesidewalls of the connector will be bent inwardly into crimped engagementwith the wires (FIG- URE 9).

An overall advantage of the invention is that it permits a crimpedconnection having a minimum length since the Wires are overlapped in thefinished crimped connection. This achievement of a relatively shortsplice connection has substantial benets, particularly, in thecommunications field where telephone cables containing up to 2700 pairsof wires must be spliced. It can readily be seen that any saving in bulkin the crimped connection will be reflected in a small overall increasein the diameter of the cable at the location of the splicing operationand is highly desirable for that reason.

In addition to the advantage of a relatively small and compact splice,the invention achieves accurate location of the wires in the crimpedconnection with their axes extending side-by-side and parallel to eachother as shown in FIGURE 2. The wires are under complete control duringall stages of the operation by virtue of the wire holders and thedifferent depths of the slots in these wire holders. The wires will thusnever be crossed in the tinished splice and consistent electricalresults will be achieved. Finally, it should be noted that the scrapends of the wires which are severed in the shearing planes at the endsof the crimping members are outside of the connector after the shearingor cutting operations have been carried out. These scrap ends thus donot interfere with the crimping operation and need not be removed by thetechnician in a separate operation.

FIGURE 11 shows an alternate embodiment of the invention having a wireguiding and holding arrangement which is somewhat different from thecorresponding elements of the embodiments of FIGURE 3. In the embodimentof FIGURE 11, the anvil block 38, the anvil 68, and the crimping die 76are substantially the same as the corresponding parts shown in FIGURE 5.The spacedapart cutting bars 136 in this embodiment have notches 140 attheir lower ends 138, the width of these notches being substantiallyequal to the diameter of the pin 106 so that, unlike the embodiment ofFIGURE 3, there is no lost motion connection between the cutter 136 andthe anvil block 38. In other words, if the anvil block moves upwardly,the cutter bars will also move upwardly by the same amount as the anvilblock.

The shearing arms 142, which extend from the bars 136 have lower andupper sides 144, 146 and the edges of these arms perform the wirecutting operations as previously described. The Wire guides 148, 150 aresecured by suitable fasteners to the outwardly facing sides of cutterbars 136 and are advantageously made of a suitable plastic material suchas polyurethane as previously described. Referring particularly to thewire guide 148, this member is provided with an inwardly directed slot152 and a forwardly directed arm 153 immediately below the slot 152. Theguiding of wires is facilitated by means of a bent wire guide member 154having an upper arm 156 which extends into the slot 152 and a lower arm158 which extends beneath the arm 153 of the guide member 148. The endportion 160 of the arm 158 is bent upwardly and extends into a suitableopening on the underside of the arm 153. The wire guide is provided withan identically bent wire guide 162 having an upper arm 164 and a lowerarm 166, the upper arm extending into a slot 168 in the guide 150 andthe lower arm extending beneath the arm 170 of the guide 150.

In use, the wire 16 which extends from the right in FIGURE 11 ispositioned between the end portion 167 and the surface of the guide 150and is led labove the left hand cutter bar 136 and through the slot 152of the guide 148. The wire 14 which extends from the left in FIGURE 11is similarly located between the end 160 and the guide 154 and thesurface of the wire guide 148 and is led above the upper surface 146 ofthe arm 142 of the right hand cutter bar and through the slot 168. Afterthe wires have been so positioned, the tool handles are closed and thewries 14, 16 are trimmed in the planes of the ends of the die. Theconnector 2 is crimped onto the trimmed wire ends in the mannerpreviously described.

A comparative advantage of the embodiment of FIG- URE 11 is that thelost motion connection between the cutter bars 136 and the pin 106 isnot required because of the fact that the portions of the wires heldbetween the ends 160, 167 of the bent wire guides and the surfaces ofthe guides 148, 150 are permitted to remain stationary while the cutterbars move upwardly after the severing operation has been carried out.The upward movement of the cutter bars and the guides 148, 150 withoutupward Imovement of the wires is permitted because of the fact that the4slots defined by the ends of the bent wire guides 160, 167 and thesurface lof the guide plates 148, 150 extend upwardly as viewed in thedrawing and the wires can be moved relativley out of the slots duringthe final portion of the stroke of the tool.

FIGURE 12 illustrates the manner in which a pigtail splice as shown inFIGURE 1.3 can be formed with the embodiment of FIGURE 11. In accordancewith this aspect of the invention, the two wires which are to be splicedare positioned with their axes extending between the end portion of`guide member 154 and the surface of the member 148, thence over theupper surface 146 of arm 142 and above the upper arm 164 of the guide162. When the wires are located in the tool in this manner, the endportions of the wires will be severed in the |plane of the right handside of the crimping die 78 by the arm 142 and the severed ends will becrimped onto the connector as shown in FIGURE 13.

FIGURE 14 illusrtates the manner in which a T-tap connection can be madewith a tool of the type shown in FIGURE 1l. The T-tap, FIGURE 15,comprises a through wire and a tap Wire as shown. In making a connectionof this type, through wire is located beneath the guide members 154, 162and the tap wire is positioned beneath one of these guide members andlead above the other guide member, the guide member 162 are thisinstance. In accordance with this embodiment, when the die and anvil aremoved relatively toward each other and the cutters `are moved relativelypast the die, the talp wire will be severed and the through wire willnot be severed since it is not located between the cutting arms. Theconnector will then be crimped onto the trimmed tap wire and the throughWire a-s shown in FIGURE 15.

Changes in construction will occur to those skilled in the art andvarious apparently different modifications and embodiments may be madewithout departing from the scope of the invention. The matter set forthin the foregoing description and accompanying drawings is offered by wayof illustration only. The actual scope of the invention is intended tobe defined in the following claims when viewed in their properperspective against the prior art.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for trimming the ends of a pair of wires extending axiallytowards each other and crimping an open-U type connecting device ontothe trimmed ends, said apparatus comprising, a pair of crimping membersnormally disposed in parallel spaced-apart relationship, said membersbeing movable relatively towards and away from each other along apredetermined path, said members being adapted to support and crimp anopen-U type electrical connector, the end portions of said crimpingmembers defining wire shearing planes, a pair of wire shearing members,one of said shearing members being disposed in each of said planes, saidshearing members being normally disposed beside said path at locationsbetween said crimping members, said shearing members being movableparallel to said path and in said planes towards and past a irst one ofsaid crimping members to shear said wires, and wire locating means oneach of said shearing members, each wire locating means having rst andsecond wire holders, said wire holders of each locating means beingarranged on opposite sides of said shearing members with said rst wireholders located n the sides of said shearing members `adjacent to saidsecond crimping member and said sec-ond wire holders being located onthe sides of said shearing members adjacent to said first crimpingmember whereby, each wire can be positioned in a iirst and second wireholder to locate said wires with their axes extending through 'a firstholder thence between a rst shearing member and the second one of saidcrimping members thence between said crimping members thence between asecond shearing member and said first one of said crimping membersthence through a second holder, the first holder of the one locatingmeans and the second holder of the other locating means lying in oneplane, and the remaining wire holders lying in another plane extendingparallel to, and beside, said 4one plane whereby, said wires will bepositioned in side-by-side relationship when held in said wire holders,and during movement of said shearing members towards and past said firstone of said crimping members, the end portions of said wires `aresevered in said shearing planes, and during subsequent movement of saidcrimping members relatively towards each other, an open-U type-connecting device is crimped onto the -overlapping cut ends of saidwires, with said wires fbeing in side-by-side parallel relationship insaid connecting device.

2. A device as set forth in claim 1 wherein said rst one of saidcrimping members comprises a crimping die and said second crimpingmember comprises a crimping anvil, said crimping anvil being `adapted tosupport said connector, and -said die having forming surface portionsopposed to said die, said forming surfaces 'being adapted to bend thesidewalls of said connector into crimped embracing relationship withsaid wires.

3. A device as set forth in claim 2 wherein said wire holders compriseslots in said wire locating means.

4. A device as set forth in claim 2 wherein said shearing members havesaid side portions opposed to said anvil which conform to said formingsurfaces of said die, said shearing members being movable into alignmentwith said die during shearing of said wires whereby said side portionscooperate with said die to crimp said connector onto said wire.

5. In a device of the type intended foi trimming the ends of wires andcrimping an open U-type connecting device onto the trimmed ends, saiddevice comprising a crimping die and a crimping anvil, means for movingsaid die and anvil relatively towards and away from ea-ch other along apredetermined path, a pair of shearing members disposed between said dieand anvil and in the planes of the ends of said die, said shearingmembers being movable relatively towards and past said die whereby saidshearing member-s cooperate with the ends of said die to shear wiresext/ending through the planes of the ends of said die, the improvementto said apparatus comprising:

Wire locating and holding means on each of said shearing members, saidlocating and holding means comprising means for locating a pair of wiresextending laxially towards each other in side-by-side relationshipbetween said die and anvil with each Wire eX- tending between said anviland one shearing member thence between said die and anvil thence betweenthe other shearing member and said die whereby,

upon actuating of said apparatus, the end portions of said wire-s aretrimmed in the planes of the ends of said die and a connector supportedon said anvil is thereafter crimped onto the overlapping wire ends.

6. A device as set forth in claim 5 wherein said locating land holdingmeans comprises plate means on said shearing means, said plate meanshaving slots for reception of said wires.

7. A device as set forth in claim 6 wherein one slot in each locatingand holding means extends laterally of said path and the other of saidslots extends parallel to said path and has an open end facing saidanvil.

8. In an apparatus of the type intended for trimming the ends of wiresand crimping a connecting device having `an open side onto the trimmedends, said device comprising a crimping die and a crimping anvil, meansfor moving said die and anvil relatively towards and away from eachother along a predetermined path, a pair of shearing members disposedbetween said die and anvil and in the planes of the ends of said die,said shearing members being movable relatively towards and past said diewhereby said shearing members cooperate with the ends of said die toshear wires extending through the planes of the ends of said die, theimprovement to said apparatus comprising:

a pair of wire locating devices disposed on each side of said apparatus,each wire locating device being adapted to guide an incoming wire pastthe nonshearing side of one shearing means, past the shearing side ofthe second shearing means, thence beyond of said apparatus whereby,

upon actuating of said apparatus, the end portions of said wires aretrimmed in the planes of the ends of said die and a connector supportedon said anvil is thereafter crimped onto the overlapping wire ends.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 397,290 2/1889 Hiller 72-3312,549,838 4/1951 Miller 29-212 X 2,618,993 11/1952 Carlson 72-4093,328,872 4/1967 Reem et al. 29-203 THOMAS H. EAGER, Primary Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R. 72-331, 409

1. APPARATUS FOR TRIMMING THE ENDS OF A PAIR OF WIRES EXTENDING AXIALLYTOWARDS EACH OTHER AND CRIMPING AN OPEN-U TYPE CONNECTING DEVICE ONTOTHE TRIMMED ENDS, SAID APPARATUS COMPRISING, A PAIR OF CRIMPING MEMBERSNORMALLY DISPOSED IN PARALLEL SPACED-APART RELATIONSHIP, SAID MEMBERSBEING MOVABLE RELATIVELY TOWARDS AND AWAY FROM EACH OTHER ALONG APREDETERMINED PATH, SAID MEMBERS BEING ADAPTED TO SUPPORT AND CRIMP ANDOPEN-U TYPE ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR, THE END PORTIONS OF SAID CRIMPINGMEMBERS DEFINING WIRE SHEARING PLANES, A PAIR OF WIRE SHEARING MEMBERS,ONE OF SAID SHARING MEMBERS BEING DISPOSED IN EACH OF SAID PLANES, SAIDSHEARING MEMBERS BEING NORMALLY DISPOSED BESIDE SAID PATH AT LOCATIONBETWEEN SAID CRIMPING MEMBERS, SAID SHEARING MEMBERS BEING MOVABLEPARALLEL TO SAID PATH AND IN SAID PLANES TOWARDS AND PAST A FIRST ONE OFSAID CRIMPING MEMBERS TO SHEAR SAID WIRES, AND WIRE LOCATING MEANS ONEACH OF SAID SHEARING MEMBERS, EACH WIRE LOCATING MEANS HAVING FIRST ANDSECOND WIRE HOLDERS, SAID WIRE HOLDERS OF EACH LOCATING MEANS BEINGARRANGED ON OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID SHEARING MEMBERS WITH SAID FIRST WIREHOLDERS LOCATED ON THE SIDES OF SAID SHEARING MEMBERS ADJACENT TO SAIDSECOND CRIMPING MEMBER AND SAID SECOND WIRE HOLDERS BEING LOCATED ON THESIDES OF SAID SHEARING MEMBERS ADJACENT TO SAID FIRST CRIMPING MEMBERWHEREBY, EACH WIRE CAN BE POSITIONED IN A FIRST AND SECOND WIRE HOLDERTO LOCATE SAID WIRES WITH THEIR AXES EXTENDING THROUGH A FIRST HOLDERTHENCE BETWEEN A FIRST SHEARING MEMBER AND THE SECOND ONE OF SAIDCRIMPING MEMBERS THENCE BETWEEN SAID CRIMPING MEMBERS THENCE BETWEEN ASECOND SHEARING MEMBER AND SAID FIRST ONE OF SAID CRIMPING MEMBERSTHENCE THROUGH A SECOND HOLDER, THE FIRST HOLDER OF THE ONE LOCATINGMEANS AND THE SECOND HOLDER OF THE OTHER LOCATING MEANS LYING IN ONEPLANE, AND THE REMAINING WIRE HOLDERS LYING IN ANOTHER PLANE EXTENDINGPARALLEL TO, AND BESIDE, SAID ONE PLANE WHEREBY, SAID WIRES WILL BEPOSITIONED IN SIDE-BY-SIDE RELATIONSHIP WHEN HELD IN SAID WIRE HOLDERS,AND DURING MOVEMENT OF SAID SHEARING MEMBERS TOWARDS AND PAST SAID FIRSTONE OF SAID CRIMPING MEMBERS, THE END PORTIONS OF SAID WIRES ARE SEVEREDIN SAID SHEARING PLANES, AND DURING SUBSEQUENT MOVEMENT OF SAID CRIMPINGMEMBERS RELATIVELY TOWARDS EACH OTHER, AN OPENU TYPE CONNECTING DEVICEIS CRIMPED ONTO THE OVER-LAPPING CUT ENDS OF SAID WIRES, WITH SAID WIRESBEING IN SIDE-BYSIDE PARALLEL RELATIONSHIP IN SAID CONNECTING DEVICE.